Lynchburg Theatre Major Matt Penalva Performs in "Other Worlds Than These: The Songs of James Ballard"
Written by Anna Wehr, Theatre Major 2017 and current Managing Director of Virginia Theatre Association
On January 4th at 7:30pm first year Matt Penalva, theatre major and member of Curtain Call, performed in an original works Cabaret titled, Other Worlds Than These: The Songs of James Ballard. James Ballard is a Lynchburg native who currently lives in New York City and is pursuing his career in musical theatre composition.
Matt became involved in the project on recommendation from Dana Ballard, James’ Mom and Lynchburg College instructor. He was asked to send in a performance video and a few days later he received word from James he would be a part of the project.To prepare for the pieces Matt listened to tracks of the songs and had the ability to create his own characters. Matt shared, “It’s cool to see his own ideas of what he created and have him be able to tell me exactly what something means and exactly what he was thinking as he wrote the music.”
Matt was featured in two songs titled “Almost Touching” and “Two Bros In A Hot Tub.” “Almost Touching” was composed by James Ballard with lyrics by Greg Moss. Matt is always fully engaged in the material he performs and he has wonderful comedic timing. For this song in particular Matt was sent a video of Will Roland of Dear Evan Hansen performing the piece.
“Two Bros In A Hot Tub” featured music and lyrics written by James. This song in particular was my favorite piece of the night. Matt mentioned the song was based on a Vine James saw. It was hysterical and featured Matt and Jeffrey Trent, a current student at George Mason University. The room was filled with pure joy and laughter. I thoroughly enjoyed Matt’s performance in both pieces.
I’m so happy I took part in this evening of new musical theatre work. I look forward to seeing Matt and James’ careers in the arts flourish. Their work adds to the continual growth of the Lynchburg theatre scene and strengthening of the local arts community. During the evening James encouraged all audience members to support the local arts and I second his sentiment.
On January 4th at 7:30pm first year Matt Penalva, theatre major and member of Curtain Call, performed in an original works Cabaret titled, Other Worlds Than These: The Songs of James Ballard. James Ballard is a Lynchburg native who currently lives in New York City and is pursuing his career in musical theatre composition.
Matt became involved in the project on recommendation from Dana Ballard, James’ Mom and Lynchburg College instructor. He was asked to send in a performance video and a few days later he received word from James he would be a part of the project.To prepare for the pieces Matt listened to tracks of the songs and had the ability to create his own characters. Matt shared, “It’s cool to see his own ideas of what he created and have him be able to tell me exactly what something means and exactly what he was thinking as he wrote the music.”
Matt was featured in two songs titled “Almost Touching” and “Two Bros In A Hot Tub.” “Almost Touching” was composed by James Ballard with lyrics by Greg Moss. Matt is always fully engaged in the material he performs and he has wonderful comedic timing. For this song in particular Matt was sent a video of Will Roland of Dear Evan Hansen performing the piece.“Two Bros In A Hot Tub” featured music and lyrics written by James. This song in particular was my favorite piece of the night. Matt mentioned the song was based on a Vine James saw. It was hysterical and featured Matt and Jeffrey Trent, a current student at George Mason University. The room was filled with pure joy and laughter. I thoroughly enjoyed Matt’s performance in both pieces.
I’m so happy I took part in this evening of new musical theatre work. I look forward to seeing Matt and James’ careers in the arts flourish. Their work adds to the continual growth of the Lynchburg theatre scene and strengthening of the local arts community. During the evening James encouraged all audience members to support the local arts and I second his sentiment.
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